This movie's page in IMDb having been visited by just a few hundred viewers only a few of whom have left reviews (with one being totally OFF imo btw!) and no mention of a box office success or something, i'm wondering if it's been ignored thus underrated somehow? (it's had a number of wins though, so it has received some attention in certain places after all ...)
anyway, i don't quite like movies about sports and rarely do i watch them ... so, at first, i thought this was going to be a really violent perhaps even sadistic movie when i found it in that section of Netflix where movies with a lot of nudity and sex are grouped together ...
but since most of the mentioned movies do contain some good story in them as well (let's call them "soft porn" or rather, 'serious' or 'classy' pron for the lack of a better word) i thought let's give it a try and i'm glad i did as it turned out to be a truly well made fine movie with way more than expected positive material in it ... (so, maybe i should give it 9*** instead of the 7*** i did already!?)
the symbolism and subtle hint in the story to the soft and feminine side of a rough lifestyle is very well portrayed here in fact ...
warning: spoilers ahead!
a tough man, a successful boxer of international fame who's married to a loyal, beautiful and lovely wife with two cute small kids is at the end of his career and can retire gracefully, but he's not going to give up as he's actually not quite a business-minded person to be content running a restaurant or anything along those lines ...
that is why he's still so deeply concerned and totally in love with the good old memories of his young years that his imagination as well as his actions run wild and far when he gets emotionally and sexually involved with a very beautiful and young girl who's willing to become a boxer ...
later, it turns out she's actually pursuing some dream of her own following in the footsteps of a dad, also a successful boxer, she lost at a very young age, whom she can barely even remember since they did not meet each other on a regular basis because he, just like the man she loves and sleeps with now (and has wild rough sex with as well) happened to be a married boxer with two children, who also left his family and successful career for another woman with whom he conceived this now-hopeful boxer daughter ...
so, we're in a loop of recurring and repeating stories now ...
the beautiful sexy girl perhaps doesn't even exist and is only a figment of the hopelessly retiring man's imagination? she is what represents both the man's love of and dedication to his famed profession, as well as his fear of losing it altogether now that he's come of age and has to leave the stage ...
she's both real as well as unreal ... and the man is actually fighting himself, his own troubled mind now, when often times he gets nearly physical with the girl, and she does so as well, since she's nothing but a representation of the man's alter-ego that is actually feminine rather than masculine ... a masculine female at that though ...
all in all, as said already, this is a very finely made movie that i'm really happy i watched ... time well spent when i was so preoccupied with a lot of important undone chores and a highly stressed mind as a retiring man myself ...
anyway, i don't quite like movies about sports and rarely do i watch them ... so, at first, i thought this was going to be a really violent perhaps even sadistic movie when i found it in that section of Netflix where movies with a lot of nudity and sex are grouped together ...
but since most of the mentioned movies do contain some good story in them as well (let's call them "soft porn" or rather, 'serious' or 'classy' pron for the lack of a better word) i thought let's give it a try and i'm glad i did as it turned out to be a truly well made fine movie with way more than expected positive material in it ... (so, maybe i should give it 9*** instead of the 7*** i did already!?)
the symbolism and subtle hint in the story to the soft and feminine side of a rough lifestyle is very well portrayed here in fact ...
warning: spoilers ahead!
a tough man, a successful boxer of international fame who's married to a loyal, beautiful and lovely wife with two cute small kids is at the end of his career and can retire gracefully, but he's not going to give up as he's actually not quite a business-minded person to be content running a restaurant or anything along those lines ...
that is why he's still so deeply concerned and totally in love with the good old memories of his young years that his imagination as well as his actions run wild and far when he gets emotionally and sexually involved with a very beautiful and young girl who's willing to become a boxer ...
later, it turns out she's actually pursuing some dream of her own following in the footsteps of a dad, also a successful boxer, she lost at a very young age, whom she can barely even remember since they did not meet each other on a regular basis because he, just like the man she loves and sleeps with now (and has wild rough sex with as well) happened to be a married boxer with two children, who also left his family and successful career for another woman with whom he conceived this now-hopeful boxer daughter ...
so, we're in a loop of recurring and repeating stories now ...
the beautiful sexy girl perhaps doesn't even exist and is only a figment of the hopelessly retiring man's imagination? she is what represents both the man's love of and dedication to his famed profession, as well as his fear of losing it altogether now that he's come of age and has to leave the stage ...
she's both real as well as unreal ... and the man is actually fighting himself, his own troubled mind now, when often times he gets nearly physical with the girl, and she does so as well, since she's nothing but a representation of the man's alter-ego that is actually feminine rather than masculine ... a masculine female at that though ...
all in all, as said already, this is a very finely made movie that i'm really happy i watched ... time well spent when i was so preoccupied with a lot of important undone chores and a highly stressed mind as a retiring man myself ...